The Dallas Cowboys traded star edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has a long and complex history of trades, some successful and others not.
The Dallas Cowboys just traded edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers. Done deal. Official.
It’s only the latest chapter in the ups and downs of Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones’ trade history.
Early in Jones’ tenure as team owner, which began in 1989, his savvy moves as the head of the team’s personnel decisions helped construct a powerhouse. The Cowboys won three Super Bowls in four years, all of which were within the first seven years of Jones’ ownership.
Since the team’s last title in the 1995 season, Dallas has not returned to a conference championship game, let alone a Super Bowl.
USA TODAY Sports examined some of the most notable moves in Jones’ trade history – both good and bad – in the wake of his decision to send Parsons to the Packers.
Here’s what to know:
Jerry Jones trade history
1989: The Herschel Walker Trade
Cowboys received:
LB Jesse Solomon
LB David Howard
CB Issiac Holt
DE Alex Stewart
Vikings’ first-, second- and sixth-round picks in 1990
Vikings’ first- and second-round picks in 1991 (conditional on cutting Solomon and Howard)
Vikings’ first-, second- and third-round picks in 1992 (conditional on cutting Holt and Stewart)
Vikings received:
RB Herschel Walker
Cowboys’ third- and 10th-round picks in 1990
Chargers’ fifth-round pick in 1990
Cowboys’ third-round pick in 1991
Chargers received:
RB Darrin Nelson
To date, this trade is considered the single most lopsided trade in NFL history.
Minnesota hoped Dallas would hold onto the five players it traded after the Cowboys started the season 0-4. Then-head coach Jimmy Johnson had other ideas. He quickly moved to dump all four of the players who reported to Dallas – Nelson did not, hence the Chargers’ involvement in the trade – to recoup the Vikings’ draft picks.
The Cowboys went on to use the extra draft capital they acquired to make aggressive deals in ensuing drafts, trading up and landing players who became key contributors to future title-winning teams.
1990: Up to 17th overall pick in the NFL draft (Emmitt Smith)
Cowboys received: No. 17 overall pick in 1990 NFL Draft
Steelers received: No. 21 (TE Eric Green), No. 81 (DT Craig Veasey) overall picks in 1990 NFL Draft
The No. 21 overall pick in the 1990 draft was one of the first-round picks Minnesota had traded to Dallas in the Walker trade. The Cowboys went on to use it in a package to trade up four spots and draft Smith, the future Hall of Fame running back who helped the Cowboys win their three Super Bowls.
Smith won an NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP after the 1993 season. Green played five seasons with the Steelers, making two Pro Bowls with the team. Veasey played two years for Pittsburgh.
1992: Charles Haley trade
Cowboys received: DE Charles Haley
49ers received: 1993 second-round pick, 1994 third-round pick
Haley began his career in San Francisco, where he led the 49ers in sacks for six straight years and won two Super Bowls. But by 1992, Haley had butted heads with too many people in the San Francisco locker room, including legendary wide receiver Jerry Rice – according to former teammate Dexter Carter – and head coach George Seifert.
It led to the Niners trading away the then-three-time Pro Bowler to their conference rival. Haley went on to play five years in Dallas, recording 172 tackles and 34 sacks, and helping the Cowboys win three Super Bowls. He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2015.
1992: Thomas Everett
Cowboys received: S Thomas Everett
Steelers received: 1993 fifth-round pick
Everett missed the first two games of the 1992 season while – ironically – holding out for a contract. Jones took advantage of the holdout by sending a fifth-rounder to Pittsburgh for the standout safety – 315 tackles, 16 interceptions and four forced fumbles in his first five years with the Steelers.
Everett went on to play two seasons for the Cowboys. He recorded two interceptions in the team’s Super Bowl 27 victory over the Buffalo Bills, and in 1993, he made his first and only career Pro Bowl. Everett also recorded an interception in the Cowboys’ NFC championship game victory over the 49ers that year.
2000: Joey Galloway
Cowboys received: WR Joey Galloway
Seahawks received: 2000 first-round pick, 2001 first-round pick
One of the biggest stumbles in Jones’ history as a general manager came at the turn of the century. Looking to replace a retiring Michael Irvin at wide receiver, Jones sent two first-round picks to Seattle for Galloway.
Galloway had tallied more than 1,000 yards in three of his first four seasons but missed all but eight games in his fifth year thanks to – once again, ironically – a contract holdout.
The wideout never reached nearly the same heights in his four years in Dallas. He tore his ACL in his first game with the Cowboys and only had one season with more than 900 yards. Seattle, meanwhile, used the No. 19 overall in the 2000 draft it acquired from Dallas to select running back Shaun Alexander, who won an MVP five years later.
2008: Roy Williams
Cowboys received: WR Roy Williams, 2010 seventh-round pick
Lions received: 2009 first-, third- and sixth-round picks
A second notable fumbled trade by Jones happened a bit later in the decade.
Williams was a trade deadline acquisition by the Cowboys in 2008. Jones worked quickly to also sign him to a five-year extension to keep him in Dallas through the 2014 season before he had even played a snap with his second team.
Williams failed to record more than 600 yards in a single season during his two and a half years in Dallas, though he did score 13 touchdowns for the Cowboys. Jones released him before the 2011 season, after Williams had played just one year of his extension.
2018: Amari Cooper
Cowboys received: WR Amari Cooper
Raiders received: 2019 first-round pick
Ten years later, Jones made another trade deadline move that sent away a first-round pick for a wide receiver. This one aged a little better than his previous two first-round-for-wide-receiver trades.
Cooper was Jones’ solution to replace Dez Bryant, whom the team had released ahead of the 2018 season after eight years in Dallas. The Cowboys went 7-2 down the stretch after the Cooper acquisition and finished the year 10-6, enough to win the NFC East.
In his first full year with the Cowboys, Cooper set career-high marks in yards (1,189) and touchdowns (8) en route to his fourth career Pro Bowl nod. However, Dallas finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs. Cooper played two more years in Dallas, recording 1,979 more yards and 13 more touchdowns before conceding the lead receiver role to CeeDee Lamb in 2021 and making his way to the Browns via trade before 2022.
Despite Cooper’s solid production with Dallas, the team only made the playoffs twice – in his first and last seasons – and went 1-2 in the postseason.
2025: George Pickens
Cowboys received: WR George Pickens, 2027 sixth-round pick
Steelers received: 2026 third-round pick, 2027 fifth-round pick
It’s unclear as of yet how this trade will age for Pickens and the Cowboys.
What is known is that Jones did not give up a first-round pick in this trade to acquire another team’s leading receiver. Pickens will join Lamb in a Dallas receivers room that has lacked depth behind their lead wideout since Cooper’s departure.
The former Steeler is coming off a 900-yard, three-touchdown outing in his third and final season in Pittsburgh, a notable drop from the 1,140 yards and five scores Pickens had in 2023.
2025: Micah Parsons
Cowboys received: 2026 first-round pick, 2027 first-round pick, DT Kenny Clark
Packers received: Micah Parsons
Like with Pickens, it’s too early to tell how this one will age for Jones.
It’s the second big trade on this list that features Jones and Dallas trading away a player, with the other being the Walker trade to Minnesota.
Parsons is 26, a year younger than Walker was when he was traded, and had been selected to a Pro Bowl in each of his first four seasons. He was one of two players in NFL history to record at least 12 sacks in each of his first four seasons. And according to Pro Football Focus editor John Owning, the Cowboys were the best defense in the NFL by EPA per play with Parsons on the field and the worst defense in the NFL by the same metric without him.
Time will tell how this trade ages, but its early reaction has been one of befuddlement across the NFL world.